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Volleyball: Lady Bulldogs March To 6A Semifinals

GREENWOOD — During a tense moment in the opening game of Wednesday’s 6A State Tournament volleyball quarterfinal, Greenwood coach Jennifer Golden implored her team to seize momentum.

The Lady Bulldogs responded with a game-ending 9-1 run to win the first game and went on to a stunning three-game sweep against the top seed from the East — Jonesboro — as Greenwood advanced to today’s semifinals with a 25-18, 25-19, 27-25 win at Stewart Bulldog Arena.

“It’s all about finding a groove in that first game, especially with teams that we don’t know a whole lot about and we haven’t seen,” Golden said. “It’s coming in and getting comfortable on the court and seeing who they are and seeing how our spirits are and then finding that groove. … (During a Jonesboro time out), I told the girls we’ve got to find a groove and I vocalized it and we took it to heart and we went out on the court after that time out and finished the game. That’s when we really took off, I think.”

The Lady Bulldogs (16-13) take on Marion in one of today’s 6A semifinals at 4 p.m. at Bulldog Arena. Russellville plays Mountain Home in the other semifinal at 6 p.m. The semifinal winners then square off in the 6A championship match Saturday at Valley View High School.

Greenwood trailed Jonesboro 17-16 in the first game before two kills from freshman Erin Black, a kill from senior Alexa Black and an ace from junior Maddie Gilliam gave the Lady Bulldogs a 20-17 advantage. After Jonesboro (24-9) temporarily broke the Lady Bulldogs’ momentum with a point on the next play, Greenwood then scored the next five points to win the first game, with Erin Black making a couple of big plays at the net.

Gilliam, an outside hitter, then set the tone in the second game as she recorded five kills as Greenwood opened an 8-3 lead, which soon grew to 15-7 before the Lady Hurricanes called a time out. But the Lady Bulldogs were never threatened in the remainder of the second game, and fittingly, Gilliam ended it with another kill.

“I looked at Maddie and I said they can’t stop you,” Golden said. “We’re going to feed you the ball and just go wherever you want, you read the block and you do what you do and we did, she played an excellent game at the net.”

Gilliam ended up leading the Lady Bulldogs with 14 kills, which also earned praise from Jonesboro coach Craig Cummings.

“She was marvelous,” Cummings said. “Whenever they needed a big kill, she got it for them and that was huge for them (Wednesday) and we didn’t have an answer. We tried but we didn’t have an answer.”

In the third game, Greenwood seemed to take control when senior Mary Scott’s kill capped an 11-4 run which turned a deficit into a 23-18 lead. But Jonesboro rallied to tie it at 24 and again at 25. However, with a Lady Hurricanes service error gave Greenwood a point and on the subsequent match point, a Jonesboro kill attempt landed out of bounds.

“That’s the game of volleyball, those momentum swings,” Golden said. “One little thing. … I was just proud we were able to (come through) and take care of it, we got the win and that’s all that matters.”

Erin Black ended up with 26 assists, 11 digs, five kills and three blocks. Alexa Black added 10 kills and two aces, while sophomore Ariel Pinkston had two aces to go with nine digs.

Jonesboro got 11 kills from junior outside hitter Nikki Tagupa, who also recorded 17 digs. Junior outside hitter Sydney Williamson led the team in digs with 21.